It's Spring in Florida

How do plants know January is Spring in Florida? December wasn’t very cold and we didn’t get our first frost until the first week of January. So how did the Hyacinth know to stick it’s stalk up through the stones and blossom. 

All the spring flowers are blooming.  This Red Azalea was hiding in the woods when we saw it’s red blossoms and we cleared out the Palmettos to give it some room. 

There is a White Azalea blooming in the front yard.

Seeing everything just wants to grow we got to work on an overgrown block of garden that was loaded with African Iris, a very rugged plant that just keeps growing and spreading without any help from us.

But we hired this homeless hippie to dig them all up and spread them out all around the yard. These were the home of the red ants that attacked Polly and finally made her jump into the pool.

We cleaned up the garden leaving a couple of clumps of the Irises and supplemented them with a couple of Camellias

And a couple of Gardenias.

We don’t want to rub the sunny weather in too much on our Northern friends so let us sign off with a nice warm picture.

We burned it every night during our little cold snap a couple of weeks ago.

Everything is Growing

Well even though it is cold up north, Florida is getting ready for spring and everything is growing like mad. The hydroponic garden has produced it's first strawberry - yum yum

And the small cherry tomatoes are getting ripe.

Some of the broccoli we left on too long and it started to flower - little yellow flowers where the the broccoli buds were - I didn't know that.

We've got green peppers galore and a few jalapenos - good for the blood circulation

We picked our first batch of snap beans.

And we got more cilantro than I can make salsa with.

We originally thought that we'd eat lettuce right out of the garden in our salads but there isn't any way we can keep up to the rate that it is growing. That is a stalk of lettuce growing from the lowest Styrofoam box right up past the top box - starting to get a little bitter so I've got our second and third crops planted and growing to replace the old ones.

We've been saving pineapple tops, they are suppose to root and grow new pineapples - just have to wait two years.

Come on in, the water's fine

Well we've had the pool since before Christmas with the solar blanket and solar panels on the roof working hard to warm the water up but does Polly go in - Noooo - It's too cold, the sun isn't shining, I don't want to get my hair wet - There are a lot of excuses.

But red ants changed her mind - We were working on an overgrown flower bed in the back yard - digging out the African Iris, thinning them and transplanting them to other beds that had more space.
I was planting out front when I heard a scream and a string of curse words that I can't repeat. Polly had been breaking up a clump of Iris and there must have been a nest of red ants in it. She shed what clothes would come off easily and headed for the pool to get rid of the hanger oners.

It took a couple of tries but she finally jumped in, after the initial shock said it was great.

Almost Done

We are almost done with the pool. The latest was the installation of the solar pool heating. The panels that go on the roof come completely assembled with the panel attached to the feed and return pipes on the top and bottom.

The two young guys who did the installation located the roof rafters (tap, tap, tap like a woodpecker) and installed the lower brackets for the panels on them.

Installation only took about 4 hours. They claim that we will be swimming (high 70''s to 80's water temp) every month except in maybe January.

The piping for everything is getting a little complex but they are working - the water temperature has already gone up 3 degrees in one day.

Besides the solar heating we also got the robo-cleaner that just keeps going around the pool and even climbs the pool walls until it falls off.

We bought a solar cover for the pool on-line. This one is 3/8" thick and is supposed to last for at least 6 years. It not only insulates the pool water but also stops evaporation which is the largest heat loss for a swimming pool.

Well it is fine for swimming but Polly decided to work on her tan so she could show it off - we leave for the cold north on Sunday.

Work & Play

On the work side, Polly and I are still landscaping around the pool. This week was in the backyard end of the pool. Home Depot had a $49 special on Palm trees so we got our wet back laborer to install two next to the pool.

Then to finish them off, we dug out a bunch of different shrubs that the previous owner had started and now were hidden by overgrown other plants. The outer edge is a some sort of Day Lily, the red colored plants are a Croton and the row next to the pool are ferns (Polly's favorite).

We also received a nice pool warming gift from the Curry's. It's called a Corn Cane. We pt it into a ceramic pot and then had the problem of how to move it. It weighted a ton.

And now for some R & R - I'm a member of Groupon and I saw this trip advertized for 1/2 price ($15 ea). They call it a Duck and it goes down the road along the string of islands just off the coast near St Petersburg.

And then into the water it goes.

And we see the back side of all the buildings we saw from the raod.

And we were joined by some Bottlenosed Dolphins that played around the duck for quite a while.

All in all, it was a very nice trip, especially the lunch at the American Legion Post overlooking the Inter Coastal Waterway.

Self-draining Deck

Another step closer to a finished pool - they laid the deck around the pool and what a deck - It's not the normal tiles, its a porous sand and epoxy mixture. When you get out of the pool dripping wet, the water goes down into the sand/epoxy deck and runs off under the surface rather than making a slippery puddle on the deck. So this is how it's put on. Two guys mix the sand, epoxy and catalyst in a small cement mixer.

Then it is wheelbarrowed out to the pool.

Where it is raked to about 3/4" thick coat.

And then it is smoothed and compacted with a big trowel.

And, walla, a beautiful finished deck is formed.

They came back in a couple of days and put a second coat of epoxy on as a sealer. Still a little sticky to walk on. Now we are just waiting for the solar matting to go on the roof to warm up the water and we're all done, except for some landscaping.

Almost there

Getting closer and closer. Bob the Pool Builder was back with 12 gallons of acid which he poured into the pool water. The acid etches the finish coating and brings out the blue speckles and cleans up any mortar on the tiles.

I retiled the slate floor to mate up to the new pool access.

The safety fence company came by and installed a removable fence that prevents toddlers from wandering into the pool area. If I didn't install the fence I would have had to alarm all the doors that enter into the Lanai.

The pool boy came by and installed a thermal blanket that prevents water evaporation and heat loss.

With all that done why not relax with a drink in the pool

Every morning I get up and do 100 laps. The water temperature is 68 so if you don't keep moving you turn blue.

Gary and Cousin Sandra invited us over to Anna Marie Island where they live to go to a Christmas celebration. Most of the shops and restaurants were providing free food and drinks. I got a glass of red wine and it never went dry. That's Polly, Sandra, Holly's Friend, Holly (their comedic daughter) and Gary. All waiting to sit on Santa's lap.

The weather turned nasty that night and we got caught in a Florida snowstorm. Funny it tastes like Ivory soap.